Lao woman who was raised in an orphanage and adopted to the US plans to give some of her lottery winnings back. Additionally, Xia Rattanakone will use her $55 million prize money to search for her birth family as well as aid their countrymen when necessary.
Laos Lotto is a national lottery run by the government to raise money for development projects and is one of the most popular forms of gambling in Laos. However, its legal status does not disprove of allegations of corruption and money laundering related to lotto sales; therefore the Laos Lotto system needs to restore public trust through reform efforts.
Laos has seen its state lottery enterprise generate less income since 2010, when total sales reached 40 billion kip and tickets were sold four times a week; revenue has fallen off significantly this year as sales have decreased from three times weekly to twice a week, due to falling ticket sales for national draws held every three days and scratch lotteries once daily. Laos generated 20 billion kip in total sales this year compared to 40 billion last year when four sales per week took place and two sales occurred this time.
Apart from its revenue decline, the lottery is also coming under scrutiny regarding its ethics and integrity. Many people have claimed that numbers in the lottery are fixed despite official denials; such claims have caused many players to abandon trust in this game altogether.
Some winning numbers have been perceived by Laotians to be auspicious, such as the number 67 which appeared three consecutive drawings last month and is widely associated with turtles as a sign of bad luck. Others were difficult to come by, such as number 134 which won three out of four drawings recently and is commonly associated with buffalo as a symbol of good fortune; many players attempted to pick it during the Oct. 10 drawing but it temporarily disappeared from ticket sales until an hour before its actual appearance in ticket sales again and was restored shortly before its actual appearance and could return!
Lotteries can be an immensely profitable business for lottery sellers who often come from poor or blind backgrounds and need additional income streams. Unfortunately, lottery sales is an unbalanced business – an average Thai ticket costs one baht yet the buyer only loses 16 baht on average; sellers make between 0.40 and 1.40 baht per ticket sold; however they can increase the price to make more profit.
Government response to complaints of lottery abuse includes restricting lotteries to two per week and eliminating scratch lottery. But Vilasack Phommaluck, a Finance Ministry official who sits on the committee that oversees it all, suggests more changes may be necessary in order to restore public trust in gambling games; specifically cutting prize payouts as an antidote against addiction to gambling. Despite strict laws against gambling in Laos itself, several special economic zones allow lotteries in certain parts of state, in addition to many foreign countries’ lotteries being sold illegally inside Laos itself.